Tokki Studio shooting
, Gold Coast, K.S. | target = Television staff of Anubis and Bastet | coordinates = | date = | time = 1:11 p.m. – 1:14 p. m. | timezone = | type = | fatalities = 36 (excluding the perpetrator) | injuries = 38 (by gunfire) | victim = | perps = | perp = Nelson Stoley | perpetrators= | perpetrator = | susperps = | susperp = | weapons = | numparts = | numpart = | dfens = | dfen = | footage = | motive = Retaliation against television show writing }}The Tokki Studio shooting occurred on November 20, 2017 in the city of near Porciúncula, Sierra, when 22-year-old Nelson Stoley shot and killed 36 people at the animation studios of Tokki Network. Between 1:11 p.m. and 1:14 p.m. , Stoley fired hundreds of rifle rounds inside the studio building at staff writers and fans of Sierran animated series Anubis and Bastet in retaliation to in-universe events which precipitated in the series' season four finale episode back on November 6. He was later shot dead by Liam Coleman, an off-duty private security officer, who responded to the scene within minutes of distress call. The media and government has also informally referred to the attack as the Anustet incident, in reference to the name of the shooter's desired " " from the show (e.g. pairing of Anubis and Bastet). The incident was the deadliest mass shooting by an individual in the Gold Coast and the fifth-deadliest mass shooting in Sierra. It drew widespread criticism and attention to Sierra's gun culture, and reignited concerns over existing federal gun law legislation. Although the Gold Coast had one of the most stringent gun control laws in the country, Stoley, a native, was able to legally purchase and obtain his firearms legally without incident from the province. The nature and motive of the gunman's attack also raised concern over addressing mental health issues, with the media dubbing the attacker as the "Mad Shipper". Stoley had previously been diagnosed with , although he was only assessed a year prior to the attack. He reportedly self-diagnosed himself as as well. During his adolescence, he only received psychological counseling and therapy for stress. After graduating from high school, Stoley enrolled at Anthony University in Grands Ballons in 2013 as a major. Since Stoley had no criminal record and no major mental health problems, he was able to purchase firearms in 2016 after completing a 3-month training program and thorough background check evaluation. The shooting prompted new proposals to restrict the sale of semi-automatic weapons, as well as increased funding towards preventing gun violence. Production for the fifth season of Anubis and Bastet was indefinitely suspended, as the show's creator and executive director Adrian Balser, and other producers, were amongst those killed in the attack. Background ''Anubis and Bastet'' Anubis and Bastet is a Sierran animated television series, which airs on Tokki Network. The show features a cast of versions of the , including the eponymous protagonists, and . The series is an adaptation of the 2013 manga series of the same name, and first aired on television in 2014. Its fourth season began in June 2017 and concluded on November 16, after twelve 30-minute length episodes. Anubis and Bastet is one of the highest-rated television series on Tokki Network and has a significant fanbase with an overarching online presence. Like many major fanbases, it featured a large community of " ", which the television crew encouraged through fan interactions and the show's writing itself. Especially pertinent to the case was the relationship between the series' main leads, Anubis and Bastet, which was depicted as platonic. Supporters for a romantic relationship between Anubis and Bastet call the ship "Anustet", a portmanteau of "Anu'bis" and "Ba'stet". The shooter, Nelson Stoley, who followed the show since its initial airing, supported a romantic Anustet pairing, and cited it as one of the main reasons he watched the show. He expressed frustration when romance failed to develop between the two by the show's fourth season. This fact was the primary motivation behind his attack. On November 20, two weeks after the fourth season finale, the series' production crew threw a closed-event celebratory party at the studio set to commemorate the success of the series. Stoley was among the 250 fans who was able to receive their tickets to attend the event. Sales for the tickets ran upwards to $4,000, while Stoley reportedly purchased them for only $2,200, on November 18, when the tickets were initially posted. Location Tokki Animation Studios is a multi-story building complex located in Downtown Providencia near other major television studios and headquarters including RBS, EBN, and 16ON in a section known as the "Big Box". The Big Box is a 15-block area featuring television entertainment corporate offices and studios which is encompassed between Floral Street, Frémont Street, Glen Avon Boulevard, and Barcelona Avenue. The studio is the site of the primary animation, writing, audio recording, and development for many of Tokki Network's current and former television series. Up until the attack, the studio building was publicly accessible and the company frequently allowed fans to visit the production set to meet with the studio staff and animators. Shooting The mass shooting began at 1:11 p. m. PST, on November 20, 2017, on the day the Anubis and Bastet crew was celebrating the conclusion of the show's fourth season in one of the studio's outdoor patios. When the shooting began, the show's creator, Adrian Balser, was offering a toast to his crew members and fans for their love and support. Security footage showed Stoley breached his way through the light security through the studio foyer. Earlier, he attempted to come in with a duffle bag, which concealed his weapons, and wore a heavy jacket, but was stopped by security, who wanted to check its contents. After he refused to surrender his bag, he left and returned moments later with his weapons in full-view and began opening fire, killing six employees and one fan just minutes earlier. He threw smoke bombs and stored two with him on his bulletproof vest. Although internal security were immediately alerted, Stoley rushed through the hallways to the event. Witnesses at the event claimed they were unable to hear any gunfire was they had been cheering at the time of the shooting. By the time security had alerted the event of the armed intruder by , Stoley reached the event and opened fire. Survivors reported that Stoley appeared calm and composed, and stated firmly "this didn't have to happen". During the shooting, his gun was jammed briefly, allowing many to escape without harm. One fan, Aaron Cho, attempted to tackle Stoley, but was subsequently shot dead when Stoley was able to readjust his weapon. He non-discriminately targeted attendees and crew members. After firing his first round, he picked off individuals, including security officers who arrived on the scene. After he confirmed the death of showrunner Adrian Balser, Stoley attempted to flee the scene, still armed. He was killed instantly after receiving a point-blank shot to the head by security guard Liam Coleman. Coleman, who was on break, had been resting in a storage room when he heard gunfire. Licensed to operate a gun with concealed carry and cleared to use it at work, Coleman hid by a hallway pillar, before shooting Stoley from behind. Perpetrator | image = Nelson Stoley.jpg | image_upright = | image_size = 200 | alt = | caption = Stoley in 2016 | birth_date = | birth_place = , Gold Coast, K.S. | death_date = | death_place = , Gold Coast, K.S. | death_cause = Gunshot wound | residence = , Gold Coast, K.S. | education = Alondra High School Anthony University | occupation = IT technician | employer = Cabrillo Technologies }} Within hours of the shooting, the Royal Bureau of Investigation was able to identify the perpetrator as 22-year-old Nelson Thomas Stoley, a Gold Coast native, from the city of . Stoley's parents were blue collar workers who had no college education. Stoley had three siblings: two older brothers and a younger sister. As a teenager, he attended Alondra High School where he maintained a decent academic record and only minor infractions in his disciplinary record. Close friends claimed Stoley exhibited unusual behavior and speech at times, which Stoley claimed was due to stress from his schoolwork. He received periodic visitations by a family therapist to help cope with his stress, and suffered an anxiety attack in 10th grade. One former high school classmate described Stoley as "weird but friendly", who enjoyed drawing and discussing cartoons and video games with his peers. Following graduation, he experienced a mild bout of depression, after his application to his dream school, Sierra Polytechnic Pomone, was rejected. He enrolled in Anthony University as a declared computer science major and , though felt unsatisfied with his freshman year there. By Stoley's sophomore year, friends said he had begun to withdraw from social life, and began ditching classes to stay at home. Stoley neglected his studies, and was placed on during the spring of 2015. He spent a month living at a friend's house after his parents kicked him out. During his junior year, Stoley's academic standing improved again, although not to the satisfaction of his parents. His father threatened to withhold paying tuition for Stoley unless he found a job and continued to improve his grades. Around this time, Stoley privately consulted a psychologist to assess his mental health. He was formally diagnosed with and began seeking medications to ease his anxiety. Although Stoley found work at a local Bixby's store, he continued maintaining a strained relationship with his family. On his personal profiles found on online chatrooms and forums, he described himself as "autistic". Friends and family members claimed Stoley used various forms of media, especially anime and cartoons, as a form of . He frequented online boards and forums in discussing fan theories, and spent much of his money on merchandise and memorabilia. Stoley was first exposed to Anubis and Bastet, his favorite series, when it began as a manga series back in 2012. He grew attached to the community and had grown "obsessive" with the series' lore and plot. Stoley was especially defensive of " " the series' main characters, Anubis and Bastet, together (known as "Anustet" to fans). Later police investigations revealed he had written a 22-page essay detailing and defending Anustet on an online forum using the handle "delirioushipper09". He also had over 9 gigabytes of images, videos, and text, some pornographic in nature, stored in his computer, dedicated entirely to the ship. Within the series, the two characters are depicted in a platonic friendship with romantic relationships with other characters. In the summer of 2016, Stoley developed an interest in firearms, and began target practice with the support of his father, a gun enthusiast himself. This mutual interest helped them bond together, and by November of that year, he was able to obtain several guns from a licensed dealer after undergoing standard background checks and mental health evaluations. His diagnosis of general anxiety disorder did not raise reasonable doubt against his mental state, and was thus cleared to purchase weapons by the National Firearm Sales Database. Stoley and his father stored their firearms in the storage room, and would bring them out to local firing ranges. In June 2017, shortly after graduation, Stoley landed a job as a at a Cabrillo Technologies media center, and began working shortly thereafter. As the series progressed with no signs of any romantic development for Anustet, Stoley became agitated and would complain to his friends about it. A friend of his claimed he suffered a mental breakdown after he had spent too much thinking about the ship and the possibility of it never occurring. He would jokingly claim that if the ship would not happen, he would "pay a visit to the creators" to change their minds. He had high prospects in the fourth season, which "teased" the chance of Anustet becoming a canonical relationship. However, by the fourth season's end, both characters remained only friends and did not enter into a romantic relationship as Stoley had hoped. The manner in which the ship was handled in the show greatly angered Stoley. In the wake of the season finale on November 6, he sent over 30 phone calls to the studio, expressing his disapproval of the episode's outcome. Within days before the shooting, Stoley had privately confided to online and real friends of his, that he was seriously contemplating an actual retaliation against the show's writers. Although friends believed he was joking, Stoley wrote a polemical post on his personal blog, detailing his desire to make the creators "receive retribution for crimes against the light which is Anustet". To Stoley, "shipping is serious business". When pressed on what form of retribution the creators would receive by followers, Stoley stated, "I will fucking kill them for this". On the evening before the shooting, Stoley sent a farewell post on his blog and on the forums. In them, he said he was prepared to "meet and embrace the everlasting bond between Anubis and Bastet", and that he would "soon experience what true and pure love really is". He made no mention of the tickets which he purchased to attend the show's celebration event at Tokki Studios, and did not bring up his plans. However, he recorded a video of himself, expressing his true thoughts and motivations that led to his decision. Stoley attributed the ship as his coping mechanism for the "pathetic, uneventful waste of his life" and said he had grown so attached to it, that it was a reflection of his deepest desires. He lashed out being unable to find anyone to "truly love" and saw his version of Anustet as the ultimate, ideal form of relationship that he desired. He also admitted to "unironically believing in Egyptian mythology" and believed he would soon be able to meet the actual Anubis and Bastet in the . Stoley also said his actions were meant to "punish the show's creators for bringing him unnecessary pain and suffering" and to condemn them for denying him "any form of bliss". Two hours before the shooting, he saved the video into a USB drive, and sent it personally to one of his friends, instructing her not to use it until the next day. Following the attack, after his name and motivations were revealed, he was dubbed by the media as the "Mad Shipper". Casualties and victims Aftermath and reactions The shooting brought attention to the country's gun control laws and mental health issues. Although the private sale and ownership of automatic firearms have been banned since 1991 under the Tom Gilbert Law, semi-automatic firearms have continued to be allowed with varying degrees of regulation from PSA to PSA. In addition, loopholes and other gaps in existing gun legislation in both the Gold Coast and federal Sierra were also brought into question. Prime Minister Nemesis Heartwell, who was at the Getty House only 10 minutes away from the shooting, tweeted moments after news broke of the attack, "Just learned about what happened in Providencia. Very shocking and sad. Will be making an official statement soon. Stay safe, everyone." The following day, she released a full statement in a press conference meeting at the Getty House. She called the attack a "terrible crime" where the victims were "senselessly murdered in an act many of us are still trying to garner some understanding of." She issued an official state of mourning, which was to last for one week. Heartwell praised the work and dedication of Tokki Studios, and affirmed that the attack would not stop Sierrans and the studio from continuing to create "the joy and happiness we experience through fiction". She stressed the need to address Sierra's mental health issue and planned to work with her colleagues in Parliament. Heartwell also made it clear that sufferers from mental illness "are not forgotten" but are loved. Government response Tokki response Other responses Hoaxes Fake news websites published misleading stories about the incident hours before the identity of Nelson Stoley was confirmed. Images of Liam Coleman, the security guard who killed Stoley, circulated instead, leading early news organizations including ENC to erroneously use a photograph of Coleman holding a gun as the picture of the attacker. Confusion ensued on social media sites as conflicting stories and details of the attack continued. After photographs of the actual killer, Nelson Stoley, was released, media outlets redacted previous mentions of Coleman as the shooter. Although other pictures of Coleman later surfaced to honor the security guard for his actions, his gun pose photograph continued to be used by various online sources. Other websites, including those run by far-right activists, claimed the attacker was an "anti- crusader" who wanted to punish people for enjoying anime. Some reports falsely claimed Stoley targeted the studios because he was a former writer from the show who was fired due to its political beliefs. On 16ON, Democratic-Republican Member of Parliament Lenny Boore once incorrectly named the shooter as " ", a fictional character whose name is jokingly brought up as the perpetrator of recent shootings online. Boore claimed he received information on the name from "official sources" but failed to name any explicitly when asked. Boore later apologized for misidentifying the shooter. Investigation See also *List of shootings in Sierra Category:Kingdom of Sierra Category:Gold Coast Category:History of Sierra